Travel tips from a parent

Chinyere Ubamadu spent a week in Greece with her mother, sister, and 7-year-old daughter, Zoe. She shares these suggestions for other parents traveling overseas with a school-age child:

Before you’re there:

• Four to six months before the trip, get passports for each family member.
• Months or weeks before the trip, find children’s books that will help your child learn about the country and culture.
• Download an online travel packing list/checklist, and customize it to fit your family’s needs.

Getting there:

• Limit each traveler to one bag—ideally a carry-on with wheels. Then you won’t end up carrying your child’s bag, or dealing with lost luggage.
• Carry on a tote bag with fun things to help pass the time during flights and layovers: books, iPod, journal, camera, magazines, a mobile gaming device, etc.

While you’re there:

• If it fits within your budget, get a tour guide to help you learn the history of some of the sights you are visiting.
• Take lots of photos of cultural interests and sights, and buy some souvenirs your child can share with her class. It will help round out the experience

Travel tips from a pro

Once considered a privilege of the elite, travel abroad is now common among middle-class Americans with children in tow. Toni Taylor, a 31-year agent with Lookout Travel Agency and a specialist in international travel, shares these tips for parents planning a vacation abroad with minor children:

Taking care of business:

• A divorced parent should have a notarized letter from the non-traveling parent giving permission for the child to leave the United States.
• All minor children traveling internationally by air require a passport. Visit Travel.State.Gov for specifics.
• Check with your child’s pediatrician about needed immunizations, including flu shots.

Getting there:

• If you have an infant, reserve a front-row (bulkhead) seat, which allows more room for a lap-held child and can accommodate the bassinette-type attachment many airlines provide with advance request.
• Children aged 2 and up require a separate seat.
• Request children’s meals in advance.
• Airline staff will mix and heat bottles for you. (Remember, your carry-on can’t contain any single container holding more than 3 ounces of liquid.)
• Especially with extended-length flights, young children tend to experience ear pain from the change in cabin pressure upon descent. A pacifier, bottle or (for older children) chewing gum may help. Talk to a doctor about other preventive measures.

Dining out:

• Mediterranean and Latin countries are extremely child-friendly and consider evening meals out a family affair. In other countries, like Germany and Switzerland, parents typically don’t take very young children to fine restaurants.
• In many countries, including those in Southern Europe and Latin America, shops close during early-afternoons, and restaurants don’t serve dinner until 8 p.m.
• In Great Britain and former British colonies like Jamaica and the Bahamas, the hotel concierge can arrange for babysitting services. All-inclusive resort properties (like Club Med in France) now offer babysitting as well as scheduled activities for children, similar to the children’s programming on cruise ships.
• It is acceptable in most foreign countries for older teens to have a glass of wine or beer with their parents.

Traveling by car or train:

• Train travel is fun for a day trip, but with children and lots of luggage can be cumbersome for multiple legs of a journey. For the long haul, rent a car.
• If you plan use a GPS, buy and program it here—assuming you want it programmed in English.
• If you need a car seat, request one when you reserve your rental car.

Lodging:

• A typical European hotel room sleeps two, not four. (Some “family rooms” have a third bed or rollaway.) Reserve another room for more sleep space. Children must have an adult in the room with them.
• American families typically fare better in a hotel than a bed and breakfast, where you share close quarters with the proprietor.
• Europeans are extremely eco-conscious: They recycle, use less heating and cooling, and avoid waste and trash.
• Most hotels don’t provide soap and washcloths.
• Bring an adapter/converter.

Keeping perspective:

“If you’re traveling with little children, rather than feeling like you have to go far in order to fit in with the Joneses, choose a destination where they’ll have fun and won’t be bored,” Toni Taylor says. Most kids aren’t ready for highly educational trips until about age 14, she says, “but you know best as a parent what your children are able to absorb. There are 6-year-olds who can’t get enough looking at castles.”

Taylor suggests families with young children “take them places where you can go hiking, where you can rent bicycles, where there’s boating—activity destinations. You don’t have to leave the country. A dude ranch is a great place for a family to go. You can round up the cattle, grill at the fire—what an experience for city people.”

@font-face { font-family: “Times New Roman”; }@font-face { font-family: “Courier New”; }@font-face { font-family: “Wingdings”; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }strong { }span.yshortcuts { }span.apple-style-span { }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0in; }ul { margin-bottom: 0in; }

Chinyere Ubamadu lives in North Chattanooga with her husband, Ben, and her children, Zoe (7) and Zachary (5).